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CNN Saturday Morning News

Extending Bush Tax Cuts; National Debt Crisis Management; New Trade Deal to Be Announced With South Korea; Peggy Post On the Etiquette of Re-gifting

Aired December 04, 2010 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: Well, tax cuts, one of the two big political issues on Capitol Hill playing out today and we are following them live for you. Got a live shot of the Capitol right now where senators are working, yes, on this Saturday. That is a live picture inside, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. They are talking about tax cuts today.

Republicans, as you know, want to keep the Bush-era tax cuts in place for everybody. Democrats, however, want to keep them in place for the middle class only, but cut them for those making more than $250,000 a year. A compromise is being discussed as well. We'll be getting into that this morning.

Well, the other big issue this morning coming out of Capitol Hill, trade. Last time President Obama met with South Korea's president, which was at the G-20 summit, the two leaders couldn't strike a new trade deal. Now, apparently, they have and the president is going to talk about it later this morning. He called it a job creator and a way to boost U.S. exports by the billions.

We do want to start, though, this morning with those Bush-era tax cuts and whether or not to extend them before they expire at the end of the year, which they surely will do if action is not taken by Congress. Republicans want an across the board cut, Democrats say, not so much.

CNN's congressional correspondent Dana Bash is with us on this Saturday because it is a big Saturday, an extraordinary Saturday there on Capitol Hill where it seems like a vote is going to be taken. But we already know the outcome of the vote.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Nobody expects these votes - and there are actually two votes - to pass. And let me actually show our viewers what we're talking about here. It is first of all, the Democrats' plan, since President Obama ran for president, and that is to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, only for those making $250,000 or less.

But then there is something else they're going to vote on. And that is to extend those tax cuts for those making up to $1 million or less. So why are they doing that second one? Well, it is a political reason. I know you're really shocked, T.J. but the reason is because you have senators like Chuck Schumer of New York and others who believe that the best ammunition against Republicans is to have something like that. Because they will say, "a-ha, Republicans, you see, this is proof, all they want to do is cut taxes for millionaires.

We're going to probably hear that over and over this morning. Already the Senate has been in for about an hour. They have been debating. And let's play for our viewers the gist of what we're hearing from the arguments on either side of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: The majority in the Senate like the majority of the country believes the middle class deserves this tax cut. The minority in the Senate believes against all evidence to contrary, millionaires, billionaires, and these big CEOs ship jobs overseas deserve this give away. We disagree, but that's why the founders created this body. To debate and settle those disagreements.

SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: This debate is not about cutting taxes. This debate is whether or not we ought to increase taxes on anybody during a recession.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And T.J., that really is the argument we are hearing from Republicans over and over again that the reason they want to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts is because now is not the time to do anything else.

This debate is going to continue for the next hour, and then we're going to see if those couple of votes - but again, to emphasize, this is the Democrats wanting to get on the record with their positions with regard to the tax cuts knowing full well that they are not going to pass and that there will have to be - in order to make sure that everybody's taxes don't go up on December 31st, there's going to have to be a compromise.

HOLMES: Is there any possibility, Dana, that Republicans who are negotiating with Democrats and the White House behind the scenes don't appreciate this move by Democrats? And could that possibly affect the actual compromise and the discussions that are going on behind the scenes?

BASH: That's a really good question. The answer is no, they do not appreciate it. I've bumped into several Republicans in the hallways who are, I think it's fair to say, less than happy that they are here. And they say this is just a political ploy, political games. But the fact of the matter is, I think that the compromise train is already leaving the station. And that is well underway.

It certainly doesn't add good will to this, but Democrats, you know, they still run the Senate. And they're going to do this and there's really no two ways about it. And I've got to tell you, if Republicans were in charge and there was an issue that they would want to show, you would bet that they would probably be doing very similar things getting on record with something that they wanted to do.

HOLMES: You bet they would. Absolutely. So 10:30, I believe is tentatively scheduled, so about an hour and a half now. We'll continue to check in with you, Dana. Thanks so much.

Well, meanwhile, the president's debt commission -- you may have heard about this, this was still going on in the midst of all this other news we've been hearing about, tax cuts and unemployment rates. Well, the spending cuts and tax ranges that could possibly slash $4 trillion from the deficit in 10 years, that's what the debt commission has been working on, but their proposal failed to get the required number of votes to push it forward.

Jay Newton-Small is a congressional Washington correspondent for "Time Magazine" joins us this morning from Washington.

Good morning, Thank you for being with us.

So where do we go with all this work and all these recommendations since they didn't get the required number of votes to push it towards a congressional vote? What do we now?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, "TIME MAGAZINE": Well, unfortunately, you can't really push it toward a congressional vote because they failed to get the requisite number of votes. And you just heard actually Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley who is a Republican that you know, he was talking on the floor of a Senate saying now is not the time to increase taxes.

And part of what this commission does is increase taxes in order to fill the deficit hole. It also has massive amounts of spending cuts. And there was just leeriness on both sides of the aisle that, you know, during this recession in the middle of this economic hard time, that now is really not the time to do this. And it would just have been a very difficult and hard to do.

HOLMES: All right. We have all this work that the debt commission put in to this plan. If they didn't have the votes to push it towards Congress and make them take some kind of an action, then what happens to that plan? Does it just sit and collect dust? Well, possibly some members of Congress pluck some ideas out of it? Or will it just go away?

NEWTON-SMALL: Well, I think it becomes, frankly, a political football. I mean, it's a bipartisan plan, I think it was very well- received by economists who felt that it was a great first start in actually tackling the nation's deficit problem. And it's not like the deficit problem is going to go away.

It was a major issue in the last campaign. There's a lot of pressures from voters to do something before the next campaign to deal with the deficits. And so I think you're going to start seeing it come up as people - Republicans and Democrats will bring it to the floor, parts of it and saying challenging the other side. "Why don't we take on these cuts? Why don't we take on these tax increases?" But, at the same time, it's going to be very difficult to actually force anything because there's no pressure right now. I mean you don't feel like the deficits are bringing down the country. I mean, necessity is the mother of all invention. You don't feel that deficits are bringing down the country immediately right now.

And until that sort of deadline, you know, when Medicare really starts to take over huge amounts of the budget, when social security really is going bankrupt, I think it's going to be very difficult to really do something tangible on this issue.

HOLMES: Yes, then maybe they'll grab it and dust it off and pull it off the shelf and put it into good use. Is there any feeling, any sense from people you're talking to up there, I don't want to be too cynical here and I don't want to be too strong, but think this was a waste of time in any way? If we don't know what we're going to do with it, if nobody's necessarily implementing these ideas. This was supposed to be the tough choices. They were going to tell us what we had to do and now we're not going to do it, at least any time soon.

NEWTON-SMALL: Well, you had Senator Judd Gregg from New Hampshire who is on the panel had a great analogy and said, look, this is like a category five hurricane that's sitting 30 miles off the coast. If we don't start creating evacuation plans at this point, we'd be really dumb.

So this is, your evacuation plan essentially. And so, when the hurricane comes closer, at least we'll be prepared. And so, I mean, it's not a waste of time. It's not going to moth ball completely, but it's certainly a good first step into tackling this massive problem.

HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) That's another good analogy. We've heard plenty surrounding this debt commission. Jay Newton-Small, the congressional Washington correspondent for "Time" magazine. Good to see you this morning. Thanks so much.

NEWTON-SMALL: Thank you.

HOLMES: I want to turn now to that new trade deal with South Korea we've been telling you about this morning. The White House says it will create jobs here for Americans, possibly create or support up to 70,000 jobs. And also expected to give a boost to U.S. carmakers.

This is what we do know about the deal so far. It would do away with tariffs on more than 95 percent of industrial and consumer goods within five years. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimates the tariff cuts will increase exports of U.S. goods by some $10 to 11 billion.

Also, it calls for South Korea to reduce tariffs on American car imports by half, from eight percent to four percent. The tariffs would then be eliminated in the fifth year of that agreement. Meanwhile, that 2.5 percent tariff on cars imported from South Korea will remain in place until the fifth year of the agreement.

Now, even though the White House is going to be announcing and the president coming out to talk about this shortly that there has been a trade deal reached with South Korea, Congress would still need to OK the deal.

We will here at CNN bring you President Obama's comments live when they do happen on this new U.S.-South Korea trade agreement. We're expecting them some time a little later this morning, possibly in the next hour or two or few. But when it does happen, we will bring it to you live.

All right. It's been on your mind. Should you or should you not re-gift? You know those presents, the stuff you got last year, you threw in the closet, didn't really want it, didn't want to throw it out, you felt bad about it. It's still sitting there. You haven't used it. Can you wrap that and give it to somebody else?

We've got an etiquette expert Peggy Post who is going to be joining us live with the answer. Ten minutes past the hour. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, 13 minutes past the hour now. Have you done it? Have you been guilty of this? Re-gifting. You get a gift, maybe Christmas last year, you didn't really like it, threw it in the closet. Now it's Christmas time again, can you take that out, repackage it, and give it to somebody else?

Well, Peggy Post is the director of the Emily Post Institute, great granddaughter-in-law of the etiquette standard bearer, Emily Post. She joins us now, also author of "Emily Post Etiquette," joins us now from Bonita Springs, Florida.

Ma'am, let me start with the simplest question here. In some cases, is it OK, or is it ever OK to re-gift?

PEGGY POST, AUTHOR "EMILY POST ETIQUETTE": In some cases, very, very rarely OK, but we don't recommend that one does it.

If you do want to re-gift, if you really have something that you want to re-gift, make sure that the recipient would really like it. That's the key thing. Select something you're sure that person would like. Let's say you have a new coffeemaker that someone gave you, you already have the same coffeemaker, your sister would love that, that's OK.

Also, make sure it's in new condition, you take off any gift wrap and wrap it up and make sure people don't know each other. The gift giver who gave you the gift and the recipient of your gift.

HOLMES: That's a very good point.

POST: The key is not hurt feelings. And (INAUDIBLE) re-gifting started in the mid-90s because of the "Seinfeld" show because it's just a mine field for problems and awkward situations.

HOLMES: OK. Tell me this, do you find that people have a tough time. You know, just getting past the idea, you feel bad about doing it. You feel bad about throwing a gift out that somebody gave you, you feel bad about returning it or maybe you can't. Do people feel bad, as well, about the idea of re-gifting?

POST: They actually do. A lot of people report that they do. And the better way to re-gift is give it to charity or give it honestly. Say to your sister, I just received another coffee maker and I'd love for you to have it. Don't wrap it up - or a book. Let's say you already have a book someone gave you. Give that to the person honestly. And that way you don't feel funny about it. Like you really want to remember the spirit of giving.

HOLMES: OK. Peggy, is it a bad idea to try to, you know, dress it up, maybe you put a tag on it again to try to make it look new? Is that a bad idea?

POST: Well, if you're going to re-gift, that's the only way to do it. And that is to - if you're going to wrap it up and really - maybe you've told yourself this is exactly what the person would like. And you're sure there won't be hurt feelings, well, yes, that's when you wrap it up. Put the tag on and you give it as you would've given any other gift. You selected it.

HOLMES: So you've given the economic times right now, we know a lot of people are hurting. And more on a serious note here, can this actually be a good idea and good option and is it possible we could see more of this during tough times because you don't have money to go out and buy a gift for everybody?

POST: And absolutely. Because of the recessionary times, because we're a nation of so much stuff, that's why re-gifting has been increasing. In fact, a recent survey done by "Consumer Report" about a year ago said 37 percent of Americans said they planned to re- gift. That was over 31 percent the previous year. So it has been increasing.

And the whole thing is if you're going to do it, we like to tell you how to do it. And that is to do it without hurting anyone's feelings.

HOLMES: All right. What do you do if you do get caught?

POST: Fess up. Be honest and say I thought you'd really like it, I have to say so and so gave this to me. But fess up, don't create a spiral of lies.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: All right. And last thing here, what types of items might be ideal for re-gifting? And what kind of things should you avoid trying to re-gift?

POST: Well, definitely do not re-gift one-of-a-kind items, something that someone made for you, something that's really unique.

Let's say great Aunt Sue made a nice warm scarf for you, you don't re-gift that. And I don't recommend, of course, re-gifting per se but if people say when they do re-gift, if they do, it's generally more generic types of gifts. Really a nice gourmet sealed box of chocolates, or candles, some candles, some hand lotions in a little set, sometimes picture frames, sometimes a brand new book.

Make sure that whatever it is is in brand-new condition and as I said in the beginning, something that the recipient you're sure would like.

HOLMES: Well, Peggy Post, this has been great and informative, and on behalf of myself and Reynolds Wolf and so many cheap guys out there, we would like to say thank you so much this morning for that advice.

POST: Thank you, T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Sorry, Reynolds, sorry to put you in that category. I should have just spoken for myself. I'm sorry.

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: My gosh. Well, man, I was going to give you the forecast, but I'm not just going to rip it apart, re-gift it, and give it to the rest of America. You're going to get their own. That forecast is going to include some snow from mother nature.

Parts of the northeast including Buffalo had tons of snow, in fact, several feet of it. Today, they're going to get a little bit of a break. But other parts of the nation will see their first snowfall of the season. More on that coming up in just a bit. You're seeing this shot from parts of the Midwest. You can see the snow, you can see the dogs, hopefully the dog will make a reappearance. More on that in a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. 22 minutes past the hour. Time to check in again with Reynolds Wolf. We've been talking about Buffalo a lot -

WOLF: For good reason.

HOLMES: It's nothing new for Buffalo, they're used to this.

WOLF: It isn't. You know, that's one of the things. Everyone's been saying big deal about the snowfall in Buffalo. (INAUDIBLE) And it's true that Buffalo is a place that gets a lot of snowfall. But the problem is, you had so much snow, the sheer volume in a short amount of time. That was really the key of the issue. And you're seeing a lot of people out here just waking up to really snow bank conditions.

This shot, you'll see someone climbing over this fence. If you look in the background of the picture, that's part of i-90. You had people that are stranded out there trying to cross these fences on their way to go to restaurants, get a bite to eat, they'd go back, climb back over those ladders and to the car. Did the dogs enjoying it? I have a feeling that the dog is not there too long. I think if he was out there too long, he wouldn't be enjoying it too much.

Let's go back to our weather forecast. We've got here will be some delays. Obviously, we've had some delays for the last couple of days in the roadways and places like Buffalo today. Air delays can be expected in Chicago, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, mainly due to the snow. Light snowfall possible in Salt Lake City. Also the (INAUDIBLE).

And speaking of Chicago, we have a live image that we're going to take for a moment. Just to give you an idea. A snapshot of what's happening. You got Michigan Avenue, right there in the middle of the screen. We've got the cloudy skies, of course, the snow should last through a good part of the day.

Now, something else we're going to be seeing into the afternoon is that cloud is really going to shift to a bit more into the Ohio Valley and we're looking at a range anywhere from one to four inches of snowfall. Not of the magnitude of what we have in Buffalo. Buffalo will have another shot of snowfall as we get into Monday and Tuesday of the coming week.

Now, the snow is also going to be a problem, not just in parts of the Ohio Valley, but possibly into the western Carolinas. Tuning in from Charlotte. Guess what? You might have some snowflakes tonight. It's going to be a big football game up there tonight for the AC championship. We could have some snow there by - by possibly halftime. 58 degrees the high in Atlanta today, 33 in Chicago, 44 in Denver, 68 degrees in Los Angeles, a fast forward into your forecast tomorrow shows that boundary.

Dropping a little bit more to the south, and when it does, we're going to be feeling that cold air. You will feel that cold air tonight in Charlotte with 33 degrees for the low. For Nevada and Louisiana Tech, (INAUDIBLE) it's not going to have any problems in your game. 68 degrees for the time of kickoff for both Oklahoma and Nebraska. That's going to be in Arlington. That's going to be in an indoor facility but if you're walking outside, about 40 degrees. Auburn, South Carolina, the same deal, indoor facility. But 56 if you're walking out (INAUDIBLE) Street. For Oregon, Oregon State, you're going to be outside. You might get some snow there later on before the game is over, but starting off, 46 degrees.

That's a quick rap on your forecast. We're going to give you the second half of the weekend coming up very soon. T.J., interesting times across the nation but winter really being felt for the first time this season in the Ohio Valley and in Chicago.

HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, appreciate you as always, buddy.

It's 25 minutes past the hour. Quick break, we are right back on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Taking a look at some of the stories making headlines right now. The Senate is at work this morning. You're looking at live pictures. Both of them from outside the Capitol and inside the Senate chamber. You're seeing Senator Kyl there of Arizona, the Republican.

And what's happening today, there's going to be a vote. They're going to take a couple of votes on a couple of measures having to do with extending the Bush-era tax cuts. Both of those measures are expected to fail, but Democrats are hoping to at least get themselves and to get Republicans on the record on the books.

Of course, Republicans want to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for everyone. However, Democrats only want to extend those tax cuts for people making up to $250,000. We're keeping a close eye on what's happening there.

Also, a stream of secret U.S. documents being revealed by WikiLeaks.org. The U.S. government warning its employees against reading any of them. Saying many of them are still classified no matter if they're in the public or not.

Also, President Obama expected to announce a new trade deal with South Korea. One that could hike U.S. exports some $11 billion, possibly create more jobs here in the U.S.. The president said to talk about it a little later this morning. You will see his comments live here on CNN.

Appreciate you, of course, being with us. I'll be back at the top of the hour to continue with CNN SATURDAY MORNING, and more live news.

But for now, let me hand it over to "YOUR BOTTOM LINE."